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Early Years
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. was born on July 10, , to Mattie Cunningham Ashe and Arthur Robert Ashe Sr., two middle-class African Americans living in strictly segregated Richmond.
His mother died before he was seven, but not before teaching him to read at an early age.
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Small in stature, Ashe took to tennis from the age of four, mostly thanks to his fathers job as caretaker at Brook Field, one of Richmonds Blacks-only playgrounds. The Ashe home was located in the middle of the playground.
When he was seven, Ashe was befriended by Ronald Charity, a gifted Black tennis player and coach.Charity took a keen interest in Ashe and taught him the nuances of the game. By it was obvious that the ten-year-old Ashe had talent but needed a mentor and coach. Enter Dr. Walter Johnson, a Black physician and tennis coach in Lynchburg who had discovered Althea Gibson, the Jackie Robinson of tennis and Wimbledon singles champion in and Johnson guided Ashe through youth tennis, ent